I began Business of the House questions by raising yesterday’s Westminster hall debate on the badger cull.  It was attended by well over 50 MPs. It is becoming increasingly clear that the cull is an expensive disaster for farmers, for wildlife and for all taxpayers. Since the extensions to the cull were announced, hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions and many experts have demanded the government rethink their approach. All the environment secretary Owen Pattison does is ignore the facts, hide behind written ministerial statements and assert his personal belief that it is working! I asked Andrew Lansley to arrange for the secretary of state to emerge from his sett and come to the house for an urgent debate in government time on the future of the 40 further culls which are current scheduled to take place.

This government used to insist that they didn’t enjoy making spending cuts, but the mask slipped when a few weeks ago the prime minister donned his white tie and tails and told an audience in the City that public spending cuts are not just for now but forever. As the office of budget responsibility said in five years spending on public services and administration: ‘will shrink to its smallest share of national income at least since 1948, when comparable national accounts data are first available’. So this government’s stated aim is pre 1948 levels of spending but with double the number of retired people to care for and far more expensive health needs. The chancellor can throw as much mud as he likes about the last Labour government, but the British people will see straight through him to the cold, stark reality of his baleful vision of a country with no social justice and no safety net. A country where you sink or swim. I asked the leader of the house to arrange for a debate in government time on this government’s Hobbesian vision of the future.

Finally I addressed the continuing fiasco at the department for work and pensions. Iain Duncan-Smith was dragged kicking and screaming to the house of commons after trying to sneak out a major delay to his flagship universal credit programme two hours before the autumn statement. Despite wasting many millions of pounds on useless IT and admitting he will fail to meet his already extended deadline of 2017, he farcically claimed in this house that the entire programme was:  ‘Essentially on time’.  Well on that definition living standards are ‘essentially’ soaring.  The badger cull is ‘essentially’ a success and England are ‘essentially’ winning the Ashes!